Why rival’s glaring weakness could gift F1 title to Max Verstappen

With Max Verstappen starting a lowly 11th on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix thanks to an engine penalty, closest challenger Lando Norris had a huge opportunity to take advantage and reduce the deficit in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings.

Ahead of the three-week long summer break which precedes the final ten rounds of the season, and piloting a car which has been the fastest on the ground for months at this point, Norris was looking to make clear that the title race is still alive and that he is the man to hold the triple world champion’s feet to the fire.

Instead, Norris’ race was ruined after a single corner.

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Starting in fourth place after Saturday’s damp qualifying session, the 24-year-old was on the outside heading into Turn 1, often the favourable side of the grid at Spa Francorchamps as it allows for a wider line heading into the high-speed section which follows.

But, having been caught out by his faster-starting team-mate Oscar Piastri off the line, Norris inexplicably dipped the rear left of his McLaren into the gravel on exit at La Source and lost position to both George Russell and Carlos Sainz, demoting him to seventh place.

From there, Norris was stuck in a series of DRS trains throughout the race. Trying an alternative strategy in an attempt to salvage something, McLaren left him out on track when others were stopping at the end of the first stint. In a race where the undercut was very powerful, Norris had no change of contending for the podium.

Piastri, meanwhile, was handily-placed and managed to use his more advantageous track position to pass the likes of Sergio Perez and Leclerc ahead. A first-time race winner in Hungary last weekend, the Australian spent the latter stages of the race hunting down leaders Russell and Hamilton, finishing just over a second behind the former once the chequered flag fell.

That third-place finish was upgraded to second, of course, once Russell was disqualified in the hours after the race for having an underweight car.

Put simply, Norris would have been in Piastri’s position had he not started so poorly and made the error which gave his team-mate the advantage both in terms of track position and strategy.

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With Piastri having made an error at his final pitstop, costing himself two seconds by overshooting his box, Norris could well have challenged Hamilton for the win. Instead, he finished sixth, one place behind Verstappen.

Afterwards, a very subdued Norris was honest about his assessment of his own performance.

What did Lando Norris say after the Belgian Grand Prix?

“I went off in Turn 1 and that ruined my whole race so that’s it,” he said. “The strategy was good. It seemed in the end whoever undercut the most won the race, [but] we did what we thought was best. I think the pace in the car was good, maybe could have been a little bit more aggressive. Dirty air costs you so much and I was always in the dirty air.

“From a team side, [I’m] super happy. I just feel in the last few races I’ve messed up a lot and been giving away a lot of points. I’m going to do a little reset and come back stronger.

Norris’ post-race analysis has always been self-reflective, often refreshingly so, but has become increasingly scathing in recent rounds as he has challenged at the front of the field more frequently and become the most credible opposition to Verstappen.

On occasion it has felt unjustified, Norris perhaps taking too much of the blame for weekends where McLaren seemed capable of winning but, for one reason or another, did not.

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Here, though, it would have been hard to dispute Norris’ conclusion - his start was indeed woeful and did cost him any chance of scoring significant points.

Furthermore, the regularity of his poor starts is becoming a glaring weakness in his season, the kind which could gift the title to Verstappen if he is unable to improve.

What is Lando Norris’ record from pole position?

The Brit has started first twice this season, in Spain and Hungary, but on both occasions was overtaken by rivals before the exit of the first corner. In fact, Norris has failed to hold onto first place during the opening lap on all five occasions he has qualified on pole in his career so far.

At plenty of grands prix so far this season he has been outpaced by those around him on the run to the first corner. Not only does that give him more overtaking to do just to make it back to where he started, but it compromises his strategy options for the remainder of the race.

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The reality is that Norris is very unlikely to beat Verstappen to the title this year regardless of his starts – the Dutchman still enjoys a solid advantage in the standings thanks to Red Bull’s strong early-season form, and he possesses more than enough street smarts to get himself over the line if the gap does narrow between now and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Norris has demonstrated consistent speed throughout the course of the campaign so far, but if he is to avoid handing over the title to Verstappen on a silver platter, he must snuff out a problem which has become far too regular a feature of his driving as the pressure at the front has ramped up.

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